This invention relates to animal watering and in particular to a nipple type waterer and valve therefor, whereby a reliable shut-off is attained against water supplied under pressure and releasible by means of lateral movement through force exerted by the animal. This nipple waterer and valve is axially disposed in line with the axis of a tubing or piping terminous that delivers water to the animal. Accordingly, this device is an end fitting that is accessible to the animal, and the tip of which is in the form of a nipple adapted to be displaced laterally of its axis to open the valve, so long as it is displaced. The axis of disposition varies according to the requirements of the animal being watered.
This nipple type waterer is particularly adapted to the needs of domestic animals, hogs, rabbits, and mink and the like, which will drink from water supplied through mechanical devices. However, the use of this nipple is not to be restricted, as it has a wide range of utility, for example to use by paraplegics in drinking liquids. A feature is the center discharge through an angularly displaceable valve element carried by a flexible and elastic boot upon which it normally seats. Accordingly, it is a general object of this invention to provide a center discharging nipple which is natural in its delivery of water when nudged laterally by an animal desirous of quenching its thirst.
Animal waterers operated from water supplies ranging in pressure from a pound per square inch to a hundred pounds per square inch. Sealing in the "OFF" condition is imperative, and the volume of water released must be controllable by the natural instincts of the animal. To these ends a flexible boot of elastic rubber-like material is employed to support a nipple of durable plastic material. The nipple projects so as to be obviously accessible to the animal, while the boot is protectively enclosed. The valve element is rigid with the nipple and carried by the boot to be tipped radially in any direction, and it is these three parts together with the body which constitute the basic nipper waterer of the present invention. In this respect it is an object of this invention to provide a nipple and waterer valve that is practical and easily cleaned and which is sanitary.
It is also an object of this invention to restrict water flow as by means of orifice restriction; and to this end the valve element and nipple are restrictive to flow. However, the water supply is usually in excess of the restrictive flow and which would inflate and burst the elastic boot which mounts the valve element and nipple. Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to prevent bursting of the boot and this is by means of a corresponding orifice in the water supply. In practice, the orifice is provided in a retainer that secures the valve-nipple-boot assembly.